Steps to Publication

AGU journals and books welcome contributions from authors throughout the world. The decision to accept a contribution for publication is made by an editor solely on the basis of suitability of subject matter aligned with the focus of the journal, originality of the contribution, and scientific merit. The editor has complete responsibility and authority to accept a submitted article for publication or to reject it. We encourage authors to seek assistance with English language assistance where appropriate. All authors are expected to uphold AGU’s ethical guidelines. All AGU journals are published online only.

Here are the overall steps to submission and publication:

Consult our Author Resourcesand prepare your initial manuscript in Word, or LaTeX, using our Word or LaTeX templates. Collaborative online sites Overleaf or Authorea also support direct submission to AGU journals. For initial submission, we prefer a single file that includes text, figures, and tables. For supplemental information please use our templates here. Please follow our submission and revision or resubmission checklists.

If you are using figures from other sources, obtain permissions where needed. We cannot publish your paper until any copyright issues are resolved.

Review the publication fees. All journals have excess length fees and/or length limits. These are billed after acceptance.

Submit your manuscript files to our submission system, GEMS. You will be updated as the peer review process moves along.

Your manuscript will be evaluated and, if appropriate to the journal, sent for external review by the journal editors.

Final files and separate figures must be uploaded at revision or resubmission.

If accepted, congratulations! Your manuscript will be sent to our publication partner, John Wiley & Sons. The accepted article will be posted online within a few days with a DOI and considered to be published and citable. You will also be notified to transfer copyright or, for a fee, select open access and a Creative Commons license in any of our subscription journals. Following copyediting, you will receive proofs and notification of any publication fees.

The final manuscript will be posted shortly after the proofs are returned and then included in an online issue.

Manuscript file(s). For submission only, the text, figures, and tables can be combined into one file.

Copies of Any other papers under consideration elsewhere that are related to your AGU submission

A list of the emails of all the authors (helps enter co-authors efficiently)

A cover letter explaining the submission and any other information needed for the editor, such as author conflicts of interest, companion manuscripts, or manuscripts related to this paper under consideration elsewhere.

Three key points

Plain language summary (optional) and abstract

Up to five suggested reviewers and their emails

At revision, please have the following information ready (can also be provided at submission):